“The new mediocre …”

I have an op-ed in the AFR this morning that talks about Australia’s fiscal strategy over the past ten years and the need for a return to “the old-time fiscal religion”.

Right now politicians tax as much as they think they can get away with, spend as much as they can, and borrow to make up the difference.…Putting the budget onto automatic pilot with a debt and deficit trajectory and then borrowing to pay their own salaries is symptomatic of the new mediocre.

As they say in the classics – read the whole thing (ungated version here).

19 Responses to “The new mediocre …”

It’s not entirely fair to blame the government – of either persuasion – for this state of affairs. All politicians of all parties are to blame. […] Putting the budget onto automatic pilot with a debt and deficit trajectory and then borrowing to pay their own salaries is symptomatic of the new mediocre.

Amen to that.

Morrison’s omnibus bill is designed to deliver savings intended to reduce Government debt by $30 billion over 10 years – so not exactly a complete solution to arresting, let alone clearing, the current ~$430 billion in Commonwealth net borrowings.

Even this mediocre objective is stalled in the Turd Farm; grounded on the rocks of politically untouchable legacy welfare/environmental programs.

Australia’s economic history is basically sleepwalking along until either an international currency or debt market crises event jolts some temporary reality into the place. It lasts only until the next commodity market cycle allows normal service to resume.

Australia’s economic history is basically sleepwalking along until either an international currency or debt market crises event jolts some temporary reality into the place. It lasts only until the next commodity market cycle allows normal service to resume.

The Lucky Country – lucky because it has prospered despite and not because of its generally inept political leadership.

Yes, Sinc, and now the gummint wants us taxpayers to pick up more of the tab for its dumb LRET policy by authorising the Green Finance watchamacallit to lend taxpayers money to the impoverished base load power generators to build the new and more efficient coal fired power stations that they would have financed themselves if the LRET hadn’t destroyed their ability to make a profit in the first place? Are we living in Wonderland with Alice?

“Our tax system exists to fund the decent services in health, education, aged care, and other services that Australians legitimately expect and are entitled to receive.”

Does that mean our tax system exists to fund entitlements, which are justified by the taxes paid by Australians as whole?
If so, doesn’t that imply a limit on the entitlement, or do government borrowings also justify entitlement?

“Many Australians subscribe to what the 1986 economics laureate James Buchanan described as being “the old-time fiscal religion”. ”

Perhaps, but many, many others went into a righteous meltdown at the prospect of a Medicare co-payment which would have been about the same as they pay for the sugary drinks that they hold in one hand, while they wander around the shopping malls of the nation with a smartphone in the other hand. So the ugly truth is that we get the gutless, mediocre political temporizing which the majority vote for.

I’ve come back to this article. I meant to add to my comment that this is pleasing writing – the good schoolmaster style, not unlike Geoffrey Blainey’s.

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Liberty Quote

I shall only say at present that every extraordinary either encouragement or discouragement that is given to the trade of any country more than to that of another, may, I think, be demonstrated to be in every case a complete piece of dupery, by which the interest of the State and the nation is constantly sacrificed to that of some particular class of traders.